Tropicana Jan-Feb 2018 #116 A Start from the Heart

THE VACATION
“During the day around
Wong Chuk Hang, named
after Aberdeen’s main
thoroughfare, watch for
pencil-thin glamazons
navigating these still gritty
sidewalks in this season’s
stilettos.”
Fed and watered: Prime cuts, fine dining
and super juices
Vegetarians you’ve been warned; Butchers’ Club (13/F Sun
Ying Industrial Centre, 9 Tin Wan Close, Tin Wan; 00
852 2552 8281; thebutchers.club; three-course set menus
HK$550/£46) doesn’t deviate from its name. Credited with
introducing dry-aged beef to Hong Kong, owner Jonathan
Glover has spawned a mini-empire around Hong Kong
Island with a New York-style deli and burger joint. However,
it’s this artisan butcher shop-turned-after-dark-privatekitchen
for up to 18 that draws plaudits, as much for the
succulent cuts (and duck-fat fries) as for the free-flowing
chats with the butcher and chef.
At Culinart (40 Wong Chuk Hang Road, Aberdeen; 00
852 2580 0919; culinart.com.hk) a hard-to-book private
kitchen for eight to 24 diners, Chinese-German chef Stanley
Wong’s artful dishes taste as beautiful as they look, and there
is plenty to admire on the monthly seven-course tasting
menu (HK$1,200/£100) in which white asparagus dappled
with chives and herring roe prep appetites for barramundi
sashimi with pickled watermelon, rhubarb gazpacho and
roasted black cod with turmeric kombucha.
Take the lift up to 3/3rds (6 Yip Fat Street 00 852
3462 2951; three-3rds.com; mains from HK$90/£8), an
industrial furniture showroom that’s also an eatery with
exposed everything, plus compelling views through the
wall of windows to Aberdeen Harbour. What the owners
save on rent goes into high-quality imported and organic
ingredients in the rice paper-thin pizzas, inventive salads
and delicious homemade desserts.
At Mum Veggie + Coffee + Sweet (One Island South,
Aberdeen; mum-hk.com) morning yoga classes inside this
polished concrete, stone-walled enclave give way to some of
the Southside’s healthiest cuisine. After a Super C juice with
freshly squeezed oranges, apples and lemons (HK$34/£3)
tuck into crispy burdock root salad with carrots, bean
sprouts and salad leaves. It’s filling but not so much that one
has to forgo vegan banana cake or tofu brownie (mains from
HK$50/£4.20).
127 january/february 2018 | TM